KARACHI, Feb 2: A scrap dealer, who was an eyewitness in an armed robbery case, was shot dead at his house in Korangi Industrial Area in the early hours of Thursday, police said.

Four armed men entered Qasim Mohammad’s house, situated in Mehran Town Sector 6-F, and sprayed him with bullets before fleeing, said a duty officer at the Korangi Industrial Area police station.

The official said the victim suffered seven bullet wounds and died on the spot.

The body was later shifted to the Jinnah Postgraduate Medical Centre for medico-legal formalities, he added.

Police investigators ruled out the possibility of a robbery, saying that the suspects did not take anything from the house.

They said the victim had a scrap business in the vicinity of his residence. He had been living in Karachi for the past four years and hailed from Mirpurkhas, they added.

Following the medico-legal formalities, the relatives of the victim took his body to the SP office where they staged a protest demonstration seeking immediate arrest of the culprits.

Accomplices of Sultan Khoso, who was arrested in a robbery case in December 2011, were involved in the killing of Qasim as he was an eyewitness in the case, the protesters alleged.

They nominated Roshan Chandio, Allah Dino and Aijaz Chandio in the case. The case (FIR 78/2012) was lodged by a cousin of the victim, Ghulam Mustafa.

The protesters later dispersed on the assurance of senior police officers that the suspects would be arrested soon.

Woman killed

A newly-wed woman was killed at her house in Machhar Colony within the remit of the Docks police station.

The police said that Shazia, 25, sustained a gunshot wound in the chest. Her family shifted her to the Civil Hospital Karachi where she died during treatment, the officials added.

The police investigators quoted her family as saying that Shazia was holding her husband’s licensed pistol when it went off.

However, the police claimed that they were investigating the matter from all possible angles. They said the victim’s husband, Yousuf Niazi, was a driver. They had married a few months ago. The victim hailed from Lakki Marwat, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Following the medico-legal formalities, her family took away the body. The police had not registered the case till Thursday evening.

Body found

A woman was found dead near Govt Degree College in Sector 7-A of Surjani on Thursday morning, police said.

They added that there was a rope around her neck, indicating that she had been strangled.

The victim, clad in burka, had remained unidentified, said Surjani SHO Shabbir Husain.

He said it was not yet clear if the woman had been subjected to a sexual assault.

He said the body was shifted to Abbasi Shaheed Hospital for a post-mortem examination.

The medico-legal report had been reserved, he said, adding that the body was shifted to the Edhi morgue for want of identification.